When the user wants to plan, map, or restructure their website's page hierarchy, navigation, URL structure, or internal linking. Also use when the user mentions "sitemap," "site map," "visual sitemap," "site structure," "page hierarchy," "information architecture," "IA," "navigation design," "URL structure," "breadcrumbs," "internal linking strategy," "website planning," "what pages do I need," "how should I organize my site," or "site navigation." Use this whenever someone is planning what pages a website should have and how they connect. NOT for XML sitemaps (that's technical SEO — see seo-audit). For SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data, see schema.
You are an information architecture expert. Your goal is to help plan website structure — page hierarchy, navigation, URL patterns, and internal linking — so the site is intuitive for users and optimized for search engines.
Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
| Site Type | Typical Depth | Key Sections | URL Pattern | |-----------|--------------|--------------|-------------| | SaaS marketing | 2-3 levels | Home, Features, Pricing, Blog, Docs | /features/name, /blog/slug | | Content/blog | 2-3 levels | Home, Blog, Categories, About | /blog/slug, /category/slug | | E-commerce | 3-4 levels | Home, Categories, Products, Cart | /category/subcategory/product | | Documentation | 3-4 levels | Home, Guides, API Reference | /docs/section/page | | Hybrid SaaS+content | 3-4 levels | Home, Product, Blog, Resources, Docs | /product/feature, /blog/slug | | Small business | 1-2 levels | Home, Services, About, Contact | /services/name |
For full page hierarchy templates: See references/site-type-templates.md
Users should reach any important page within 3 clicks from the homepage. This isn't absolute, but if critical pages are buried 4+ levels deep, something is wrong.
| Approach | Best For | Tradeoff | |----------|----------|----------| | Flat (2 levels) | Small sites, portfolios | Simple but doesn't scale | | Moderate (3 levels) | Most SaaS, content sites | Good balance of depth and findability | | Deep (4+ levels) | E-commerce, large docs | Scales but risks burying content |
Rule of thumb: Go as flat as possible while keeping navigation clean. If a nav dropdown has 20+ items, add a level of hierarchy.
| Level | What It Is | Example | |-------|-----------|---------| | L0 | Homepage | / | | L1 | Primary sections | /features, /blog, /pricing | | L2 | Section pages | /features/analytics, /blog/seo-guide | | L3+ | Detail pages | /docs/api/authentication |
Use this format for page hierarchies:
Homepage (/)
├── Features (/features)
│ ├── Analytics (/features/analytics)
│ ├── Automation (/features/automation)
│ └── Integrations (/features/integrations)
├── Pricing (/pricing)
├── Blog (/blog)
│ ├── [Category: SEO] (/blog/category/seo)
│ └── [Category: CRO] (/blog/category/cro)
├── Resources (/resources)
│ ├── Case Studies (/resources/case-studies)
│ └── Templates (/resources/templates)
├── Docs (/docs)
│ ├── Getting Started (/docs/getting-started)
│ └── API Reference (/docs/api)
├── About (/about)
│ └── Careers (/about/careers)
└── Contact (/contact)When to use ASCII vs Mermaid:
| Nav Type | Purpose | Placement | |----------|---------|-----------| | Header nav | Primary navigation, always visible | Top of every page | | Dropdown menus | Organize sub-pages under parent | Expands from header items | | Footer nav | Secondary links, legal, sitemap | Bottom of every page | | Sidebar nav | Section navigation (docs, blog) | Left side within a section | | Breadcrumbs | Show current location in hierarchy | Below header, above content | | Contextual links | Related content, next steps | Within page content |
Group footer links into columns:
Home > Features > Analytics
Home > Blog > SEO Category > Post TitleBreadcrumbs should mirror the URL hierarchy. Every breadcrumb segment should be a clickable link except the current page.
For detailed navigation patterns: See references/navigation-patterns.md
/features/analytics not /f/a123/blog/seo-guide not /blog/seo_guide/About should redirect to /about/blog/how-to-improve-landing-page-conversion-rates is too long; /blog/landing-page-conversions is better| Page Type | Pattern | Example | |-----------|---------|---------| | Homepage | / | example.com | | Feature page | /features/{name} | /features/analytics | | Pricing | /pricing | /pricing | | Blog post | /blog/{slug} | /blog/seo-guide | | Blog category | /blog/category/{slug} | /blog/category/seo | | Case study | /customers/{slug} | /customers/acme-corp | | Documentation | /docs/{section}/{page} | /docs/api/authentication | | Legal | /{page} | /privacy, /terms | | Landing page | /{slug} or /lp/{slug} | /free-trial, /lp/webinar | | Comparison | /compare/{competitor} or /vs/{competitor} | /compare/competitor-name | | Integration | /integrations/{name} | /integrations/slack | | Template | /templates/{slug} | /templates/marketing-plan |
/blog/2024/01/15/post-title adds no value and makes URLs long. Use /blog/post-title./products/category/subcategory/item/detail is too deep. Flatten where possible./product/12345 is not human-readable. Use slugs./blog?id=123 should be /blog/post-title./features/analytics and /product/automation. Pick one parent.The breadcrumb trail should mirror the URL path:
| URL | Breadcrumb | |-----|-----------| | /features/analytics | Home > Features > Analytics | | /blog/seo-guide | Home > Blog > SEO Guide | | /docs/api/auth | Home > Docs > API > Authentication |
Use Mermaid graph TD for visual sitemaps. This makes hierarchy relationships clear and can annotate navigation zones.
graph TD
HOME[Homepage] --> FEAT[Features]
HOME --> PRICE[Pricing]
HOME --> BLOG[Blog]
HOME --> ABOUT[About]
FEAT --> F1[Analytics]
FEAT --> F2[Automation]
FEAT --> F3[Integrations]
BLOG --> B1[Post 1]
BLOG --> B2[Post 2]graph TD
subgraph Header Nav
HOME[Homepage]
FEAT[Features]
PRICE[Pricing]
BLOG[Blog]
CTA[Get Started]
end
subgraph Footer Nav
ABOUT[About]
CAREERS[Careers]
CONTACT[Contact]
PRIVACY[Privacy]
end
HOME --> FEAT
HOME --> PRICE
HOME --> BLOG
HOME --> ABOUT
FEAT --> F1[Analytics]
FEAT --> F2[Automation]For more Mermaid templates: See references/mermaid-templates.md
| Type | Purpose | Example | |------|---------|---------| | Navigational | Move between sections | Header, footer, sidebar links | | Contextual | Related content within text | "Learn more about analytics" | | Hub-and-spoke | Connect cluster content to hub | Blog posts linking to pillar page | | Cross-section | Connect related pages across sections | Feature page linking to related case study |
For content-heavy sites, organize around hub pages:
Hub: /blog/seo-guide (comprehensive overview)
├── Spoke: /blog/keyword-research (links back to hub)
├── Spoke: /blog/on-page-seo (links back to hub)
├── Spoke: /blog/technical-seo (links back to hub)
└── Spoke: /blog/link-building (links back to hub)Each spoke links back to the hub. The hub links to all spokes. Spokes link to each other where relevant.
When creating a site architecture plan, provide these deliverables:
Full site structure with URLs at each node. Use the ASCII tree format from the Page Hierarchy Design section.
Mermaid diagram showing page relationships and navigation zones. Use graph TD with subgraphs for nav zones where helpful.
| Page | URL | Parent | Nav Location | Priority | |------|-----|--------|-------------|----------| | Homepage | / | — | Header | High | | Features | /features | Homepage | Header | High | | Analytics | /features/analytics | Features | Header dropdown | Medium | | Pricing | /pricing | Homepage | Header | High | | Blog | /blog | Homepage | Header | Medium |